As communication devices, such as portable radios, and cellular telephones, become smaller in size, they rely more on extendable antenna assemblies. These antenna assemblies allow for an extendable antenna element to be pulled out by phone users when they need to communicate using a higher gain antenna and then be retracted when the conversation is over and the radio relies on a lower gain internal antenna section. A typical prior art example of this type of antenna assembly can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,576 issued to Robert M. Johnson, Jr., entitled "Extendable Antenna For Portable Cellular Telephones With Ground Radiator", which is hereby incorporated by reference. Johnson teaches an antenna assembly which includes a quarter-wavelength ground radiator and a helical coil capacitively coupled to an extendable half-wavelength radiator. This provides the communication device user with an internal receive antenna when the device is not involved in a communications exchange and with an extendable half-wave antenna having better gain for when the device has begun the communications exchange.
One major problem with extendable antennas is that the extendable radiator sometimes breaks due to the constant pulling and or abuse the extendable radiator element experiences over time. In prior art designs, once the extendable radiator broke, disassembly of several parts would be required in order to replace the broken antenna. A need therefore exists for an antenna which can be easily connected and removed in order to simplify replacement of a broken antenna and to also simplify original placement of the antenna during manufacture of the communication device.